Hog-trap.



mw. i B. W. PURGELL. HUG TRAP,

APPL'IATION FILEDMAY 21, 1907.

Patented Sept. 29, 1908.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

WJTNESSES INI/ENTORS i 110e TML PPLIOATION H LBD MAY 21, 1907. 899,901

Patented Sept. 29, 1908.

THE mmms PETERS co., WASHINGNN, Q74 c.

' at its upper edge and being thereforefadapted RALPH w. PURoELL rANDBERT w. PURCELL, oFnAwnMIssoURI.

Hoe-TRAP.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented sept. 29, 1790s.

Application mean-ay 21,1907. serial No. 374,813.

To all 'whomit may concern:

Be it known that we, RALPH W. PURCELL and BERT W. PUnoELL, citizens ofthe United States, residing at Dawn, in the county of Livingston, `Stateof Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Im rovements inHog-Traps; and we do here y declare the following to be fa' full,clear,`,` and exact `description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to Ywhich it appertains to make and use thesame.

This invention relates to hog'traps and is designed for use in trappinand holding a hog while a rin is being a p ied to his snout.

Practically all of such de are to be manually operated and` consequentlyconsiderable time islost unless the operator 1s an eX ertj and eventhen'there is considerable like lhood ofthe trap` engaging the hoginsuch a manner to injure him.

In carrying out ourin'ventionwe have provided a trap in the form of aninclosure having both of its ends open but having a door which is to beautomatically dropped when the animal is withinthe inclosure, and a trapmechanism which is designed to engage the animal s neck as he starts ltoemerge through the other end of the inclosure. v

In the accompanyinl drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevationof t ourinvention, 3 is a front end elevation, Fig. 4 is a rear end elevation,Fig. 5 is `a verticallongitudinal sectional view through the trap,illustrating in full lines the position of the trip devices before beingmoved and in dotted lines their' osition after being moved, the `animalalso l E described. Y

eilig illustrated correspondingly in full and dotted lines, Fig. 6 is`a' vertical transverse sectional view through the tra taken in a planeadjacent the latch for hol ing the door in elevated position, andhFig. 7is a detailV vertical transverse sectional view through a portion of thetop ofthe .trap showing the manner in which dooris` supported' invraised position.`

As shown in thezdrawings the trap in the form of an inclosure inclu ingsides 10, atop 11 and a floor 12. Each end of the inclosure i is o enand the sidewalls -10 of the inclosure pre erably converge toward theforward end of the inclosure as clearly illustrated in the toplplan viewof the drawings.

inged as at 13 at the rear endofthe inclosure is a door 14, the doorbeing hinged `closure adjacent the rear en `lever 15 which works in aguide 16 also secured at the lower ede vices now in )use e trap embodiedin Fig. 2 is a top plan view, Fig."

sure at the forward end` thereof.

for vertical swinging movement. VPivoted at one of its ends upon the top11 of the inthereof is a cured upon the said top 11 and this lever eX-tends partly across a 'slot 17 formed inthe Y top l 1` of the inclosureand is adapted for engagement by a notched latch finger 18 ,se-

of the door 14 and 'projecting forwardly t erefrom and at right anglesthereto, this latch finger being designed to extend through the saidslot when the door is swung vertically.

In order that the door may be swung as stated, we have provided a lever19 which is pivoted at its lower end to the inner face of one side wall10 of the inclosure -and projects upwardly and through a slot 20 formedin the topV 11, the said lever being located adjacent the forward end ofthe trap. A liexible connection 21 leads from this lever to a pin 22upon the door 14 adjacent the upper edge thereof and to one side of thesame and it will be understood that by rocking the lever, forwardly, thedoor will be swung upwardly to ermit entrance of the animal into the traen the door is swungas stated, the lato finger ,18 thereon engages thelever 15 and the'door is therefore supported in raised position untilsuch time as the lever 15 will be moved, there being a spring 23connected A with the lever and wth a pin upon the top of the inclosureand serving to old the said lever in position for such engagement by thelatch nger, the force exerted by the spring being limited by the guide16.

The trap mechanism proper will now be Pivoted at its lower end at thefront end of the inclosureand adapted for swinging movement across thesaid front end is a lever 24 and connected with this lever and with oneside of the inclosure at the said forward end lthereofis aspring 25 thetendency of which `isl tonormally hold the lever, 24, at the limit ofits movement toward the upright 24. Pivoted to the u per end of thelever is a hand operated pawl)26 which coperates with rack bars 27supported above the top of the inclo- The lever works through a slot andthe rack bars are located one u on each side of the slot so that thelever wor s between the rack bars and Vthe/"rackteeth of thebars arepresented in the direction in which the lever is drawn by the spring 25.Thisv lever 24 has its edge ment. which extends forwardly and in a notch37'` formed in the arm 30 and at its extreme for- `ward end this arm 36is engaged in one of a which opposes the side of the inclosure towardwhich the lever is pulled by the spring 25 concaved asindicated at 23land coperates with an upright 24l which has its lower end provided witha plurality of notches 25 in any one of which a bolt 26 may bereceive'd, -This upright also has its edge opposing the lever 24,concaved, as indicated at 27 and it is between the lever 24 and theupright that the neck of the animal is received, it being understood ofcourse that the Vnotches in the ilowerend ofthe upright permit ofadjustment of the trap toy suit hogs of various sizes. It will befurtherunderstood that by reason of the direction in which the rackteeth are pointed the lever after having been sprung to so engage theneck of the hog will be held in such engagement by reason of theengagement of thepawl with the rack teeth. There are a plurality of suchrack teeth as clearly shown in the drawings and hence it will beapparent that a large or small hog can be held by the action of thelever. ln order thatfthe lever may be held against the tension of thespring and in position to be sprung and in order that it may bereleased, we have provided devices which will now be explained. Pivotedat one of its ends to an upright 29 .at one side of the inclosure at theforward end thereof is an arm 30 which is provided with a notch 31 andwhich works at its free end in a guide 32 secured upon a similar upright33 at the opposite side of the front end of the inclosure. A pin 34projects forwardly from the lever 24 and the arm 30 rests by gravityupon the said pin at all times and when the lever is moved to the limitof its movement against the `tension of the spring 25 the arm will dropand the pin will engage in the notch 31. rThe engagement of this pininthe notch will serve ,to hold the lever at the said limit of its move-Pivoted toa bracket 35 is an arm 36 series of openings 38 in a bar 39which is pivotedas at 40 to a cross bar 41 forming a portion of a frame42. This frame 42 is y inged at its upper end to the forward end of thevinclosure and stretched across the frame from side to side and from itslower end to the cross bar is wire netting 43. That portionv of theframe which has the netting `stretched across it is positioned directlyin advance of the opening at the front end of the inclosure formed bythe lever 24 and the opposing upright 24 and it will be readilyunderstood that the door 14 being raised and the trap mechanism havingbeen set, When a hog is driven into the inclosure through the rear endthe animal will lof course kattempt to escape through the forward end ofthe inclosure and in doing so will strike the wire netting upon theframe 42' and will swing this frame forwardly and outwardly. In doingthis the bar 39 will be moved upwardly and will result in a verticalswinging movement of the arm 36. As this arm 36 raises, it lifts the arm30 and the lever 24 is released and is acted upon by the spring 25 vtobe quickly swung to grasp the ,neck of the animal therebetween and thebefore mentioned side of the inclosure. The forward end of the lever 15extends in the path of movement of the lever 24 and it will beseen thatwhen the lever 24 strikes the lever 15, the latter will be swung torelease the door at therear end of the inclosure.

1. A trap of the class described comprising an inclosure open at bothends, a door hinged at one end of the inclosure for vertical swingingmovement therewithin, means for holding the door in raised position,means for releasing the door to permit the same to drop and close thesaid end of the inclosure, a member pivotally arranged at the oppositeend of the inclosure and adapted to swing in the direction of one sidethereof, a spring exerting a tendency to so swing the said member, a pincarried by the member, a pivoted latch arm resting by gravity upon thepin and provided with a notch into which the pin isadapted to seat whenthe member is at the limit of its movement against the tension of thespring, a trip frame hinged at the said end of the inclosure and.extending in ad- .vance of the same, a pivoted arm extending beneath thelatch arm, and connection between the trip frame and the last mentionedarm.

2. A trap of the class described com )rising an inclosure open at bothends, a door liinged .at one end of the inclosure for vertical swingingmovement therewithin, means for holding the door in raised position,means for releasing the door to permit the same to drop and close thesaid end of the inclosure, a member pivotally arranged at the oppositeend of the inclosure and adapted to swing in the direction of one sidethereof, a spring exerting a tendency to so swing the said member, a pinvcarried by the member, a pivoted latch arm resting by gravity upon thepin and provided with a notch into which the pin is adapted to seat whenthe member is at the limit of its movement against the Etension of thespring, a trip `frame hinged at the said end of the inclosure andextending in advance of the same, a pivoted arm extending beneath thelatch arm, and a bar pivoted to the frame and )rovided with a pluralityof openings into which the free end of the pivoted arm may beinterchangeably engaged.

3. A trapof `the classdeseribed comprising an inclosure open at bothends, a door hinge( at one end of the inclosure for vertical swingingmovement therewithin, means for hold gagoi ing the door in raisedposition, means for releasin the door to permit the same to drop and cose the said end of the inclosure, a member pivotally arranged at theopposite end of the inclosure and adapted to swing in the direction ofone side thereof, a spring eX- erting a tendency to so swing the saidmember a pin carried by the member, a pivoted latch arm resting bygravity upon the pinV and provided With a notch into which the pin isadapted to seat When the member is at the limit of its movement againstthe tension of the spring, a trip frame hinged at thel said end of theinclosure and extending in ad- Vance of the same, a pivoted armextending 'beneath the latch arm, a bar pivcted to the frame and`provided With a plurality of openings into Which the free end of thepivoted arm may be interchan eably engaged, rack bars" between Which t epivoted member moves7 and a paWl carried by the member and engageableWith the rack bars to prevent movement of the member against the tensionof the spring at times.

In testimony whereof, We afIiX our signatures, in presence of tWoWitnesses.

RALPH W. PURCELL. BERT W. PURCELL.

Witnesses:

L. A. CULvER, G. W. PURCELL.

